Puneeth Rajkumar's eyes benefit four patients

Usually, two corneas from the deceased are transplanted into two corneal blind patients. In case of Puneeth, his eyes benefited four patients

Actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who passed away on Friday after a massive heart attack, has given vision to four patients.

The actor’s eyes were donated on Friday afternoon keeping with his father thespian Dr Rajkumar’s promise. Rajkumar had pledged back in 1994 that all his family members’ eyes will be donated after their death.

Usually, two corneas from a deceased individual are transplanted into two corneal blind patients. But in the case of actor Puneeth Rajkumar, his eyes were used to restore the vision of four patients.

“Each eye was used to treat two patients by separating the superior and deeper layers of the cornea. The superior layer was transplanted to two patients who had a superficial corneal disease and only the deeper layer was transplanted to patients with endothelial or deep corneal layer disease,” said Dr Bhujang Shetty, Founder-Chairman, Narayana Nethralaya, which runs Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank, to which the actor’s corneas were donated.

The outer or superficial part of the cornea was transplanted to two young patients with corneal dystrophy and keratoconus. Both these conditions affect predominantly the superficial layer of the cornea. Hence, only the superior part was replaced and the endothelium of the patients was retained. This greatly reduces the chances of graft rejection.

The inner or deeper layer of the cornea was transplanted to two patients with corneal endothelial decompensation affecting the innermost layer of the cornea. In this procedure, only the endothelium is replaced and this is usually done with a small incision and a few sutures. This process aids faster recovery.

“This is a first for us. We went out of our way to use his corneal tissues to the maximum to honour the contributions made by his family,” Dr Shetty said.

“Besides this, the limbal rim (white part of the eye near the circumference of the cornea), which was not used for the transplants, has been sent to our laboratory to generate ‘Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells’ for potential use in patients with Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency, chemical injuries, acid burns and other serious disorders,” he added.

The four patients --- a woman and three men --- are doing well after the surgery. The four transplants were done on Saturday between 10.30 am and 5.30 pm, and almost 48 hours post-operation, the patients are recovering well.

Dr Yathish Shivanna, Dr Sharon D’Souza and Dr Harsha Nagaraj, under the leadership of Dr Rohit Shetty, supported by the rest of the cornea team, performed the operation.

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